It's happening in Philly. For real.

Get Lucid! @ Underground Arts Tonight.

The boys at Get Lucid! – Cedric, Pete and Miguel – know how to throw down. Their parties feature a mix of live and DJ-spun music, projected visuals and often some sort of performance art. Picture a rave-like dance scene with a little spoken word poetry and guitar jams thrown in the middle, maybe a quick drag show too. Pink and blue LED lights flicker across exhibited canvas on the wall. Neon hula-hoops spin through the room. A gypsy-costumed couple battles with their two-step on the dance floor. Anything goes at a Get Lucid! party.

The events, however, are more than just a party. They’re more than just boozing and grooving and getting all goofy. Get Lucid! dedicates each event to a social justice initiative, one in which the Philly collaborative would like to bring attention. The dance party simply becomes a spoon to scoop awareness for activism-related programs. Of course, it’s a tool to induce fun, too.

We were all performance artists. When Pete and Miguel first met they were both new to Philly and got involved with Occupy. There we made amazing friends and connected to various movements and causes in our community. When it came time to party, we said “Let’s do it for a cause!”

How long has Get Lucid been around?

The first Activist Dance Party was in March 2012, and it was a fundraiser for the Dream Activists PA. Some of their members had been arrested by ICE for a demonstration they did in front of immigration headquarters and we were inspired to use a dance party to help pay for their legal fees. Since then, we’ve raised awareness and funds for The Attic Youth Center, Prometheus Radio Project, Women Against Abuse and now Decarcerate PA.

Is the idea to raise money for the organizations you promote, or more to raise awareness about the issues they address?

Both. We work with organizations that are trying to spread a message that we believe in. So the local promotion of the cause and the organization is just as important as the funds we raise for them.

How have you seen this come to life?

I think the most rewarding result of Get Lucid! has been the crowd that we have gathered to get involved and come to our events. Getting a group of loving and positive people into a room and exposing them to each other in a festive environment is a very beautiful thing. It has residual benefits that we could never possibly calculate.

What percent of the proceeds goes to the organizations that pertain to each event?

We don’t set percentages before any event, especially as we are keeping the admission fee accessible to everyone. Our first priority is to raise funds for the organization in question. If it is an especially successful night, we make sure to share some of the rewards with the starving artists who donated their time and made the whole thing happen.

What role does the music play in all of this?

The music is a big part of how we attract people to our events, but we only play the music that we genuinely love and respect. Thankfully we’ve found that the people who come to our events have a similar taste as us.

Do the events always feature local talent?

We generally favor local talent because we’re community focused and there are plenty of incredible Philly artists that deserve the promotion. Galvanize and Red Richards (our own acts) play at each event, and we have a rotating and ever growing roster of new artists. Shout out to Jason Evan, Sean Graham, Blueshift, RedHat, Mr. Manic and Sylo.

In 1 to 3 sentences, describe the experience of a Get Lucid! event and how the use of visuals, music and activism interplay.

Get Lucid! comes at you from every angle with visual and aural stimulation. Music you can dance to, beautiful, positive people you can dance with and amazing things to look at and engage the whole time. All in a safe, collaborative environment.

What was one of your favorite/most memorable Get Lucid events?

The Get Lucid! event in February 2013 for the Attic Youth Center — a vital and unique youth center that everyone in Philly should know about. It was the first event at Underground Arts (now our home), and it was the first time we had performance artists who we now consider a part of the family. Those include Raw Fruit LLC, Visitor Ten, Ruby L.L. Voyager and others. The event had our greatest turnout yet – hopefully to be beat tonight.

What has your relationship with Underground Arts been like? Is that where the parties are always held?

When we first started we held events at Medusa Lounge, which we quickly outgrew. We then had events at The Arts Garage and PhilaMoca. All of these places are great but we share a vision with Underground Arts and feel at home there. Plus, Pete works there.

Tell me about the upcoming Halloween party in honor of Decarterate PA. What’s the mission?

Fundraising for Decarcerate PA is something we’ve wanted to do for a while. We see more and more prisons opening doors while schools are closing. We’re bringing together seven visual artists to exhibit, three talented artists to create live art, and spoken word from Raw Fruit LLC. We’re also teaming up with the Psy.Fi Production crew to do projection and visuals, DJing and promotion. Our mission, as always, is to provide a quality show, accessible for everyone, while making sure that everybody knows where their donations goes. This, all in the name of a cause, with, of course, the spirit of Halloween on top of it.

If we want to swing by and say hey, what costume will you be wearing?

Pete will be appearing as a dead, ‘20s-era gangster, I will be wearing a classic homemade Star Trek original series costume and if Miguel doesn’t act fast, he’ll be going as a procrastinator.

Related

Good party, good people–but the music is stale, It was cool the first three times around, now it’s just the same downbeat, drum and bass vibe, no rhythm at all. But good to know they keep raising funds for grassroots orgs.

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UPDATE FROM SPRING 2013: We watched Joe dress up like a squire and do battle, medieval style - https://jumpphilly.com/2013/05/03/joe-hardcore-get-medieval